Doodlebug (railcar): Difference between revisions

| manufacturer = Various, including [[Electro-Motive Diesel|EMC]]/[[Pullman Company|Pullman]], [[J. G. Brill Company|Brill]]/[[Mack Trucks|Mack]], [[Edwards Rail Car Company]], [[McKeen Motor Car Company]], [[Rio Grande Southern Railroad]]

'''Doodlebug''' or '''hoodlebug''' is a nickname in the United States for a type of self-propelled [[railcar]] most commonly configured to carry both passengers and freight, often dedicated baggage, mail or express, as in a [[Combine car|combine]].<ref>[https://www.american-rails.com/doodlebugs.html American Rails: Doodlebugs]</ref> The term has been used interchangeably with '''jitney'''.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.kfb.org/Article/Doodlebugs-and-Jitneys |title=Kansas Farm Bureau: The Voice of Agriculture |date=12 Sep 2018 |website=www.kfb.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://sites.rootsweb.com/~onbdhs/jitney.html |title=Remembering the Jitney |date=Apr 2000 |website=sites.rootsweb.com}}</ref> The name is said to have derived from the insect-like appearance of the units, as well as the slow speeds at which they would doddle or "doodle" down the tracks.<ref name=FriscoI>{{cite web|url= http://www.condrenrails.com/Frisco/Frisco-Museum-All-Aboards/AA1988.3.v2.10.pdf |title= Doodlebugging on the Frisco, Part I.| publisher=All Aboard, The Frisco Railroad Museum, March, 1988 (accessed on CondrenRails.com) | accessdate=October 10, 2020}}</ref> Early models were usually powered by a [[gasoline]] engine, with either a mechanical drive train or a [[Electrical generator|generator]] providing [[electricity]] to [[traction motor]]s ("gas-electrics"). In later years, it was common for doodlebugs to be repowered with a diesel engine.

Doodlebugs sometimes pulled an unpowered trailer car, but were more often used singly. They were popular with some railroads during the first part of the 20th century to provide passenger and mail service on lightly used [[branch linesline]]s at less expense than with a train consisting of a [[locomotive]] and [[Passenger car (rail)|coaches]] with larger crew. Several railroads, mostly small regional and local networks, provided their main passenger services through doodlebugs in a cost-cutting effort.

The development of gasoline engines led railroads to seek them as higher efficiency alternatives to steam power for low-volume branch line services at the start of the 20th century. The [[McKeen railmotor]] was a line of self-propelled gasoline-powered railcars produced between 1905 and 1917. The {{convert|200|hp|adj=on}} engine on the {{convert|55|or|70|ft||adj=mid|-long}} units drove only one set of wheels, and the lack of power and traction, the unreliability of their transmissions, and an inability to reverse, were major limitations.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/10/30/streamliners-are-loved-especially-the-stunning-1910-mckeen-motor-car/ |title= Streamliners are loved especially the stunning 1910 McKeen Motor Car |date= 30 October 2016 |publisher=Ian Harvey, TheVintageNews.com, October 30, 2016|accessdate=October 12, 2020}}</ref> [[General Electric]] (“GE”"GE") was the pioneer of gas-electric railcars: GE in February, 1906 rebuilt a wood passenger coach into a gas-electric unit which was placed in trial service on the Delaware and Hudson Railroad.<ref name=FriscoII>{{cite web|url=

http://www.condrenrails.com/Frisco/Frisco-Museum-All-Aboards/AA1988.4.v2.11.pdf |title= Doodlebugging on the Frisco, Part II.| publisher=All Aboard, The Frisco Railroad Museum, April, 1988 (accessed on CondrenRails.com) | accessdate=October 10, 2020}}</ref> The [[St. Louis–San Francisco Railway]] was an early adopter of this technology, placing an initial order for ten gas-electric units in 1910 and seven additional by 1913, giving it the distinction of having the largest fleet of gas-electric motor cars in the country.<ref name=FriscoII/> The petroleum-electric drive control system invented in 1914 by [[Hermann Lemp]], an engineer with GE, became the technological foundation of self-propelled gasoline railcars in the 1920s.

In 1923, the [[Electro-Motive Diesel#Early years|Electro-Motive Company]] began production of self-propelled [[railcar]]s, subcontracting bodies to the [[St. Louis Car Company]], prime movers to the [[Winton Engine Company]], and electrical equipment to General Electric. The [[Pullman Company]] was subsequently added as a subcontractor for car bodies.

Improvements to railcars were sought by the Pullman Company, who experimented with lightweight designs in partnership with the [[Ford Motor Company]] in 1925. They then enlisted the services of pioneering all-metal aircraft designer [[William Bushnell Stout]] in 1931 to adapt airplane fuselage design concepts to railcars.<ref>{{cite book|author= Solomon, Brian|year=2015|title= Streamliners: Locomotives and Trains in the Age of Speed and Style|publisher=[[Voyageur Press]]|pages=32-3332–33|isbn=9780760347478}}</ref> Also in 1931 the [[Budd Company]] entered into a partnership with the French tire company [[Michelin]] to produce lightweight stainless steel [[Budd-MichelinBudd–Michelin rubber-tired rail cars|Budd-MichelinBudd–Michelin railcars]] in the US. Those advances in lightweight railcar design were important steps in the development of the lightweight diesel-electric [[streamliner]]s of the 1930s.

*{{cite book |authorlast=EdmundFerrell |first=Mallory Hope |date=1973 Keilty|title=InterurbansSilver WithoutSan WiresJuan: The RailRio MotorcarGrande inSouthern theRailroad United States|datelocation=SeptemberBoulder, Colorado 1979|publisher=[[InterurbanPruett Press]], Inc. |isbn=978-0-91637487108-38057-95}}

*{{cite book|authorlast=Keilty |first=Edmund Keilty|title=DoodlebugInterurbans CountryWithout Wires: The Rail Motorcar on the Class 1 Railroads ofin the United States|date=September 19821979|publisher=[[Interurban Press]]|isbn=978-0-916374-5038-19}}

*{{cite book|authorlast=Keilty |first=Edmund Keilty|title=Doodlebug Country: The ShortRail LineMotorcar Doodlebug:on Gallopingthe GeeseClass and1 OtherRailroads Railof the United CrittersStates|date=DecemberSeptember 19881982|publisher=Interurban Press|isbn=978-0-916374-7750-81}}